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They seem to use standardized formats where possible: vcard for contacts, mbox for email, image files for photos, etc. I'll grant you that they do some not-nice
by panopticon 6y ago
They seem to use standardized formats where possible: vcard for contacts, mbox for email, image files for photos, etc. I'll grant you that they do some not-nice things (like separating photo metadata into json files), but I'm curious what format for search or timeline activity would be useful for a "regular schmuck"?
If said person wants to view the data on their own time, HTML seems adequate. And JSON seems ideal if they plan on sending this data to a new service that ostensibly supports parsing Google's takeout.
- ocdtrekkie 6y agoI think a big part of the problem is even if Takeout is using standard formats, none of their competing services or software platforms are set up to ingest those formats. Like mbox is fine for opening in a desktop client, but if you move from Gmail to Fastmail or Outlook or whatever, mbox might as well be a ClarisWorks spreadsheet file.